Magic In Everyday Life

G'day!

Before i run into a topic of the week and what not, Today we will be rushing my Cat to the vets to investigate the large under skin growth she has on her jawline. I hope for the best and asked friends to send me positive energy via F-book. Yea the infamous Facebook, the social network that has robbed us of our communication skills...

Anyways!! Today’s Write up is going to be short due to lack of sleep lately and a busy day of preparing my Girl for her vet visit. I have a WitchCrafty Segment for you a minor one yes but useful and fun none the less! I unfortunately got sand in my camera! So pictures are Burrowed and no worries i will give credit to all those sights i Googled for pictures of the projects! Uhh What else do i Have. Just a Discussion on Nature in our everyday lives and living a witch-like Life. So get comfy, sip a coffee and have a read. This is The Boondock witch.

((Main Topic)) Incorporating Magic and Nature in our everyday lives. Apart of my lifestyle choice is a great deal of dirt worshipping. Now what does that mean?? Well it means that worshipping the earth,the vegetation,the beings and the sky kind of trumps that of deities. I know!!i know don’t get your broom in a knot! Understand that in this lifestyle and spirituality choice we all go about our paths in different ways at difference paces all to get to the same destination! So this pagan believes that the gifts given need to be constantly maintained and cherished.

Even in a City situation nature is present. Its just harder to find. In my experience i have lived in the city. I got to with my wonderful friend-and that alone was fantastic enough. Either way incorporating nature in our homes is a blessing in those situations. Plant life and clean environments, also loads of sunlight in our homes can (not make up for...) substitute the lack of nature. In my opinion and my advice i would make one feel less like living in a box and all closed in. I moved out of the city simply because i missed the stars. It is still possible to see them every so often but try watching a meter shower on a football field behind a high school because that’s the darkest area. By the way surrounded by lights!! Other Things that fulfil life is pets. Yes. This Witch feels life is empty with out a pet. My story with my cat was that of an accident. A wonderful wonderful accident! Cats ar'nt just the animals that contact to our souls as witches. No birds,dogs,rats,ferrets,cats or even snakes can connect to us. They link us and attach us to the animal world. An important bond that brings us thus closer to nature. Human kind have set ourselves apart from nature. This was established years and years back...human beings do not (well all the time) tap into their animal side and we always feel we have to go into nature (as if we were apart from it) or that we have to work towards appreciation for it. We neglect to understand that nature gives us life, it gives us the sun ,the moon and the food we eat, the water we drink, the wood for our homes and the fire for our heat. Everything. Yet we have turned a blind eye to it. It is in this appreciation that i feel that the whatever is laying around is a gift and should be of use. Meaning My alter tools like my wand DOES NOT need to be some special wood, but a tool that i either create or i feel a piece of power or connection with. My Besom need not be willow branches and cinnamon but what ever was around to harvest and what ever was given to me. This is again My belief, yours can differ.

Living the magical life. Is not like an episode of Charmed or anything like that. We as witches have our gifts yes but i have yet to meet a demi-god who can shoot lightning out of his or her hands as a gift from the gods. No Magical living is incorporating with out even thinking, our crafts in our lives don’t need to ritual every damn day, or sing pagan songs. We have children,lives,jobs,parties and chores. We just have a different perspective. A shared love for the air we breathe and the people around us. Instead of ignoring the field of wheat we drive by we watch the wind make it dance and fall in love with the world over and over again. Look at the world as if it is all new and a mystery and you shall never tire of it.

My days are filled with cleaning. I enjoy cleaning and i don’t sneer at it as a waste of my time. When i clean i feel better, the space around me feels so much better. I cleanse the negative off the surfaces and i radiate positive energies back into the space. In the morning i stretch and i breathe in deep, i feel the air fill my lungs and i rub my eyes. I smile because today is brand new and filled with possibilities. I even poke my head out of the window (EVEN in winter!) and take a giant gulp of teh morning air. I Thank the Coffee Gods :P and i set to my day. If i can i take a walk and look at the world around me, i meditate every other day (or try to) i write about EVERYTHING. At the end of the day I shower everything off, feeling the water wash away all the days events and feelings. I dry my hair and i relax in my bed. I say a prayer type thing and i sleep. I am a water person. Water is my thing, i used to(sometimes still do) dance in rain as a kid. I watch storms and feel a calm. Rain is cleansing not negative. Showers make me feel great! If i am sick and i take a shower i feel better!. If i am frustrated i wash my hands and i feel better. Water and me are awesome!

I am a laid back (or 'Lazy') witch. I don't use every tool i can- i don't cast circles each and every full moon, i do not drive miles and miles to go to a festival of pagans each solstice and equinox. My home does not smell of Patchouli, or sage constantly. Say what you will—i at least incorporate my beliefs and my craft everyday. To me that’s dedication not intention to this spiritual journey. Perhaps its because i think and believe that paganism is about the ideals and its not a religion at all but a spiritual path. It becomes religion when you slap a name like Gardarian or Alexandrean on it. NOT that there is anything wrong with that, there is most defiantly not. But that’s a whole Other topic.

((WitchCrafty))

Lavender Wands.

Awe yea a craft! I love crafts, i love creating. I even more so love creating with things anyone can grab and get. CHEAPLY or even free.

Today is a lavender wand. A wand like construction made from sprigs of somewhat fresh lavender. Fresh is ideal as it is much more easily workable. Dried will crumble. This is an easy Little Craft. Im sure anyone can do this one up. It smells wonderful!

Via Google

You Need:

7,9 or 11 sprigs of Lavender(Grosso Works best)Cut about 9 inches long if you can. (Leave Overnight on a counter.)

Ribbons/String About a Yard and a bit.

Thats It!.

Some people use Hot Glue but i think that that is too modern. And unnecessary.

Start By Making a bouquet of lavender and tying your ribbon in a tight knot just under the blossoms.

Leave a tail it okay. Loosen up its lavender. Relax a bit!

Be sure you have an odd amount of lavender stems to work with.

After you've tied the ribbon snugly at the base of the blossoms (use one end of the ribbon to tie, leaving the rest of the ribbon free for weaving), begin bending the stems down over the blossoms.

try to bend them evenly so that they are spaced well. Enclose the short end of the ribbon inside the stems.

Should look like this:

Image Borrowed from Lavender Hill

Think of it like a cage around the blossoms.

Now begin weaving in and out from the top of this 'cage'.The first row is always difficult i find.

Weave until the bottom of the blossoms and tie off tightly

Should look somewhat like this:

Image Found On Google

twist the ribbon all the way down to decorate the “Handle” of your wand.

Tie in a bow or knot it a few times. And Voila A Lavender wand! Decorate it if you see fit.

Via Google.

Bonus. SOME Magical Properties of Lavender!  Used in love spells.  Rub lavender on your clothing to attract love. Also protects against cruel treatment at the hands of a spouse if worn.  Place lavender under your pillow for a good night's sleep.

((Websites of Note)) Showing Some Blogger LOVE! The Essential Herbal! And Lavender Hill! Please Check these guys out!

((Something Random)) When browsing websites for Paganism,Wicca and other metaphysical i noticed that the websites are poorly put together, have dancing animations, sparkles, horrible music bits attached to them are cut and pasted stuff! This just insults us all in extension and look like a bunch of children threw together informational sites reviling Books of shadows. My advice? I wouldn’t take any Spell seriously if i got it off the web. If your going to do an 'Informational' Website about this then at least put the effort for it and make it look good. That is all.

((iWitch)) I am playing a game, iPod Catch Up! I have just recently discovered a cornucopia of Pagan,spiritual, alternative pod casts. In turn I am now reviewing them and checking them out. I will get back to you on whats what in the iWitch World!

I have had a HUGE article for this week so i will leave it there! I type faster then i thought! Have a wonderful Week and Leave a comment,shoot me some mail,i wanna hear what you have to say!

Stay Crafty,

Staying Positive.

My beautiful Familiar has a growth on her neck! shes only 3 years old! I am so Worried! My lovely friend who sleeps with me at night time, kisses my nose when i come in the door once ive been gone all day, purrs and sits on my shoulder! Sooo Worried! I am giving up buying a winter coat and such to pay for a vet visit. if we must operate then we will! I will fight this all off. And she will recover. I love my darling. I will fight for her. Send me your Love. Send Athena the Cat your Love and Hope

Stay Crafty

Welcome To The Boondock Witch Tales

Merry Meet and Welcome,

I am Wynter, A young witch from southern Ontario Canada.
This is a blog i have constructed for my personal organizational use, one that i will record my journeys through my Craft and journey of paganism.

I desired to do a Blog of this so people such as you who are reading this, could seek aid off of it, to inspire anyone at any age to reference. I hope that your stumbling on my Blog proves fruitful in your everyday living as a witch or a curious spectator!

In My Blog: In my blog i hope to record findings, new traditions i apply to my life, Crafts and art that are Pagan-related or just darn dandy. Spell experiences, view points on pagan news and pagan community issues. Musings on everyday witchcraft and living a middle class life filled with wonders of the old and applications of the new. Resources , witchy literature,Inspiring photographs i find that make me creative. Music,poetry,rituals,baking and other fun and fantastic stuff. So come and join me.

A Bit About This Boondock Witch: I live in a small community in Ontario,Canada. Here i am exposed to nature on a regular basis, i am a lazy pagan. i say this because i do not celebrate EVERY esbat or sabbat! I am fine with that, some pagans in the community did a group gasp at the fact that i don't circle under each full moon and some fainted at the thought of missing rituals, thats okay by me. why? well i never a one who judges someone of how they practice, they believe or they practice. In turn i expect and hope to see the same returned to me. Besides This i am crafty. I enjoy me some art and creative musings!I have since a child enjoyed creating something out of twigs and twine. Its my nature to create things. It is also my belief that the most valuable, useful and dare i say magical things are made from the things one finds around them. Things nature has provided to them. So if this means you just made a besom out of Golden rod and not broom corn then *GASP* go ahead and make it! its on hand,it does the same task and nature dropped a bunch of it around you! Why the heck not!!
              Whhhewww...that was a little blammery...anyways. I grew up in a small town filled with You guessed it Christians. But this never bothered me. At age 7 I told my family i did not like to attend church. That i questioned God. In y family it was not too much of a big deal. I knew at this age that Christianity is not for me. Now to clear the waters here...that DOES NOT MEAN i hate the Christians and they are horrible people and they forced me as a child to go to church each Sunday...no!! No they are allowed to believe anything they want to,worship what ever they want to and do what ever they feel. I do not,however, need to agree with this but its just not for me. I do have Catholic, Anglican and Baptist Friends who too agree with me that in the end its good people you surround your life with...not religious backgrounds. If i judged my family and friends by their religions and bitched about not being accepted as a Pagan then i would be a Hippocratic Witch would I?
             But my parents needed to responsible little parents and make sure that while they attended church i needed to be watched, so enter in my godmother. She was a great woman, wise and beautiful. She was my mothers old old friend and she was (surprise,surprise) a Pagan. I believe this was my inspiration to being a witch. Now the expected story is that she took me under her fairy godmother wing and taught me all i needed to be taught concerning Paganism and Witchcraft. But no.Not this Life anyways. She watched me on Sundays,yes, She left it to me to learn all i needed to learn about everything all on my own. Only when i was older did i tell her i was pagan and she replied with a smile"ohhh...i know.i know." I was a jaded when i was young and i cast spells without actually knowing magics true power and i lit candles and visualized things with out real direction. Yes confession-i was a kid, i was faced with this fascinating idea of magic,power,witchcraft and moonlight. This did not make me a witch...it does not make me one today. I had a love with the wind, I Swam in waters,Loved the sun on my skin, had a hatred for electric light, a love of candle light, gazed at the moon at night, fascinated by the stars and dipped my feet in the creeks. Danced around trees and believed in fairies. All this makes me who i am now, did i know they were related to this path of life? No. Defiantly not.
            In High school i abandoned practicing and just stuck to reading about paganism,folklore,myths and other such stuff while even falling in a bad crowd of people. i confess that even today i am working for a diploma. Life served me horrible horrible things. It is however my mantra to find the lessons in the bad and i have conquered each task in front of me. I am proud.very very proud in myself and my life. I do not care and never cared what others thought of me,my lifestyle and my beliefs. I was blessed with that strong personality.
             Little things of note, i am a horrible speller, i thank the internet for auto spell checker, it does not always catch everything. sorry readers. I fly solo and have never been in a coven (YET),so most of my practices are catered to the Independent witch. I write my own spells, i expect the same from others. i believe that the strongest of magic is the kind you put forth effort into...so me writing you up a spell is out of the question. say or call me what you wish, your the lazy witch who wont write your own stuff!! Small charms and such however i will share. So we aren't totally fruitless! I have not read any other Blogs of Pagans so i do not really know what i am doing and i don't know if mine will be like every other Witches Blog.

Why Boondock? Well, i really don't know it stuck to me one day. Originally, i called the blog the Hedge witch tales, but i realized so many have acclaimed themselves as hedge witch.I am a mix of the kitcheny boondock ground and sky worshiping ,crafty kind of woman. how ever if that were the title then it wouldn't all fit would it?

So please stay tuned for articles and stories,perspectives and recommendations in my Blog: The Boondock Witch Adventures.

Keep Creating,

Broom Closets and Updates

Merry Meet!

Today i will be reviewing over my 1^st topic Tackling the broom closet issue,A segment on iWitch,something random and a review of segments i plan to start and plan to do. So get comfy, have sip a coffee and have a read. This is The Boondock witch.

((Main Topic))Today i will blog about a appropriate 1^st Topic: Broom closets.

“Broom closets!? What about broom closets?!?!” you exclaim. Indeed. Coming out of the broom closet.

But what does this mean? Well if you have been living under a rock and are completely unaware of what this term is it is..you will eventually find yourself facing the question of whether or not to “come out of the broom closet.” For those of you unfamiliar with the term, this essentially means “coming out” as a Pagan -- making it known to family, friends, neighbours, etc.

In my opinion i think that if you feel it is no ones real business knowing your religion then fine. Don’t say anything, but heed this, everything is much simpler when you live in the light and not the shadow. Controversy on the topics of leaving the broom closet arise from that of:”it is no ones business” to “Living Openly”. I say that it is a comfort level thing. If you feel you are in a community filled with judgemental peoples then it is your best interest to guard what is behind your closed door. If however you do not care what others believe or you feel comfortable in your community then by all means shout it out. I am a pagan (obviously) I am out of the broom closet so to speak. Do i rub the fact of my spiritual belief in peoples faces? No. I do not shake hands with people i meet “ I am Wynter,I am a pagan. Nice to meet you” if they figure it out i do not shy away, I shrug and go “so what, i am a witch”.

My Coming out.

I mentioned before of my background and how i was inspired by my mentor to my path in paganism. I had it rather easy as i think everyone knew what i was anyways. I know my parents weren’t tickled to find out i was going forth in this direction but never the less, here I came. I can recall missing typed pages of pagan history and ritual when i was 16 years old. But other then that my family is accepting. My background is that of aboriginal nationality. Our family there is accepting to the ways of our old traditions and a lot of what i believe is routed in that old belief system of shamans and traditions. My additive of acceptance of all religions is one i have felt strongly about for sometime. I still get a few people from local churches point and call me a Satan worshipper and in the past a lot of school mates used to mock me about the witch thing. Pictures of green skin, hooked noses and having powers float in the uneducated and hollywood-ized minds no doubt. This again in my opinion does not merit me to hate anyone. Ignorance leads to Anger and Indifference Leads to Fear. This Simple. If i were to return that hate i would be no better then them but worse. In our day and age-however we have a more accepting society. We recognize so many other religions and look to them with curious eyes as to fearful glances. This act alone warms my heart. It is much more then Aramaic religions on the field. Now if only we could get the masses to make a conscious effort to accept everyone as an equal and respect the fact that beliefs are as different as people. Nobody thinks the same,it is a simple notion so why do we over complicate this?

Anyways, My coming out actually set in when i was 18 and i cooked a meal for Mabon. My family eager to eat my cooking (yeah i totally fluffed my own feathers there) then came into discussion on my beliefs and were curious about it. At this point my mother was beginning to develop her own problems and the starting of turning to a sour,judgemental person riddled with hate. I know they are very colourful words but unfortunately they are truth. That's besides the point. It was never asked about since then. I assume my father thought that I would grow out of the witchcraft thing.

At age 22 (last year) My godmother passed away. That’s when it all was out on the table as myself and a few of her coven members hosted a fire in her memory and a ritual. My godmothers friend recognized me and asked me to go with her. This was my 1^st encounter with other pagans and the 1^st time i ever did something in a group.

Either way i did not do anything extravagant to come out of the broom closet and as i said. I was and am lucky that i live in my accepting communities and family. I also am blessed with the strong willed nature i am and i no longer care what anyone thinks. I am a born and bred black sheep.

Your Story: If You read this and wish to share about your coming out of the broom closet story feel free to comment below!

Articles of Note: On topic articles to read about coming out of the broom closet are: About.com http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/contemporaryissues/i/Broom_Closet.htm

Where The Author Explores the pros and cons of exposing your pagan self.

The Blog Spiral Natures Article Stepping out of the broom closet... was also well done. http://www.spiralnature.com/spirituality/paganism/steppingout.html

And relating into my next segment Geek witches Take on broom-closets.

((iWitch)): ((iWitch is a review i take on podcast's that are for the pagan community. It doesn’t necessarily mean that every podcast is pagan related but is worth looking into.))

GeekWitch. A podcast by an Australian woman named Tahlea Moonwater -sharing her experiences and opinions about paganism. Mostly questions and answers tying into her experiences. An Intelligent woman none the less, and its light and airy quality makes it an easy witchy listen.

This podcast unfortunately has come to a close but don’t let that stop you from looking into it. I believe the author and podcaster is still answering e-mails and what not.

I recommend you check this podcast out on iTunes or her blog: 

http://geekwitch.org/

Check it out.

((Something Random)): Wynter is not my “magickal name”...i just pulled that fake name out of my ass. That is all.

Now a word from The Boondock Witch: Segments. Already you experienced 3 segments i will incorporate in my extensive blog. iWitch ;a review of podcasts of note,something random; Its something...Random,Witch Lit;A review of books to check out and/or websites to read. WitchCrafty;Crafts,Art,Inspiration or D.I.Y alter tools...

So Far thats all i got. But these are turning out to be bigger then i imagined anyways. So no problem.

That’s all i have for you This week, Join me again Soon, tell your pagan pals, e-mail me or comment for me. I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Keep Creating,